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Microsoft has massively accelerated delivery of the next version of its desktop enterprise virtualization software, while unveiling the next release of its Application Virtualization, aka App-V.

Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) 2009 R2 will now be released to manufacturing at the end of October, soon after the release of Windows 7 on October 22. That's earlier than Microsoft had promised.

MED-V, part of MDOP, won't support Windows 7, though. To get around this, Microsoft plans a MED-V Service Pack in the first quarter of 2010 it said would add Windows 7 support. Initially, the plan had been only for a MED-V beta "sometime" during the first quarter.

It's a massive acceleration.

This may indicate how little difference there is between Windows 7 and Windows Vista. Also, Microsoft is eager to get organizations moving to Windows 7 and off Windows XP as quickly as possible.

Gavriella Schuster, Windows product management team general manager, told The Reg that customers told Microsoft they needed the software sooner, for use as part of their Windows 7 deployments.

The October product will see the ability to support Microsoft's Virtual PC 2007, and add support for 64-bit versions of the desktop.

The release will also see Application Virtualization 4.5 updated using a Service Pack to work with Windows 7's integrated task bar and jump lists.

Schuster, meanwhile, promised a range of administration improvements in App-V 4.6, which will be delivered in the first-half of calendar year 2010.

The software will feature the group policy management across multiple forests of domains, support for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 recovery environments and improvements in system drive letters, plus the ability to group system error reports by type. ®